Body Swap

As he stepped into his cell, he was smiling broadly. For once, even his extreme control couldn't hide his pleasure.

***

The prison medic came for him at 7:30 in the morning. He was instructed to removed all of his clothing and sit while the medic carefully shaved his head. He then lay naked on the gurney and was covered with a sheet. Several broad, webbed, straps went across his body to hold him in place. One smaller strap went across his forehead holding his head in place.

The body swap procedure itself was relatively simple, but the skull cap, with its myriad of electrodes has to be positioned exactly and tested several times before anything could begin. A mild sedative was given in an IV to keep both the replacement and the candidate calm while the technicians checked and rechecked their data.

Once the transfer began, it would take approximately four hours for the minds to be exchanged. Calling it a body swap was actually a misnomer because it was the minds, not the bodies, which were transferred. The swap started a little before eleven and was completed around three thirty.

While Robert was lying on the cart in recovery, the warden stopped to speak with him. "The replacement," he began, "was exactly six years, four months older than you. That means that you have had thirty-eight equivalent years removed from your sentence. You have served one year, five months, so you have seven months remaining on your sentence."

The warden coughed and looked slightly uncomfortable. "The law is very specific," he said, "that you must serve out those remaining months in the same facility in which you were incarcerated prior to the transfer. The supervising Judge has ruled that, even in this case, that includes remaining in the same cell block. You will be returned to your cell as soon as the doctors say you are ready."

"No problem, warden," he replied. The sedative made his voice sound tiny and far away, but he was still able to hide the pleasure that was flowing through him. He could do seven months standing on his head. He would be free to hunt again in less than a year.

An hour later the prison medic was wheeling him back to his cell. As he rolled through the cell block, he could hear the prisoners hooting and hollering. Someone getting out on a body swap was often cause for celebration. It was expected that the prisoner would provide some sort of contraband for that celebration and Robert had stocked up a supply of smuggled whiskey and other goods for his going away party.

"You know you made history today," the medic said as he started to unstrap the restraints. "When Judge Blake's daughter got raped," he continued, "she was ready to commit suicide. But the judge told her that she was always his daughter no matter what."

He gave a short laugh. "Her older sister evidently took him at his word and came out of the closet a few weeks later as a transgender." Another short laugh. "She didn't want that surgery, though," he continued. "She said it would make her an artificial man and she wanted to be a real man. Soooooo..."

Robert's sat up on the cart trying to comprehend what the medic had just told him. He slid off and stood in front of the metal mirror above the sink in the cell. A bald, slightly smaller version of Lucinda Blake looked back at him from the mirror.

Over his shoulder he could see his cell mate smiling and laughing. "Hello Roberta," he said with a deep chuckle. "We are going to have a lot of fun at your party today." He laughed as he added, "At least I and the rest of the boys on the block will."

Despite having almost total control over his body, mind, and emotions, a terrified scream burst from Robert / Roberta's lips. It was going to be a very long seven months.

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END OF STORY

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